Apartments for patients' families

Patients must often undergo a bone marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant. Because of this, they will be required to spend large amounts of time in hospital and, in many cases, far from their homes. In such cases it is extremely important that they are able to count on the help and company of their family.

The Foundation has 6 apartments available to meet the requirements of patients and families with limited financial resources or that must move away from their normal place of residence (conditional on reports from the social workers at the hospitals in which they are receiving treatment). The apartments are located near the main transplant centres in Barcelona: Hospital Clínic; Hospital de Sant Pau; Hospital Vall d'Hebron; Hospital de Bellvitge; and Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, the final being located in Badalona.

Since July 2012, our entity has another accomodation available for patients and their families thanks to a collaboration agreement signed by Hospital infantil Sant Joan de Déu de Barcelona and NH Hoteles. As part of the social program of the company, the hotel chain facilitates a room at the NH Porta de Barcelona hotel to patients and their families, who are being treated at the nearby Hospital Sant Joan, who have to travel far from their home to receive treatment.

Since 1994, more than 150 families have benefited from this service, coming from different parts of Spain, as well as Andorra, Romania, Morocco, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Mexico and Russia.

Francesc from Lleida, stayed in the apartment close to the Hospital Clínic: "I'd like to thank the great work of the Foundation who have looked after me and allowed me to stay in an apartment close to the Hospital Clínico in Barcelona. This has meant that I have been able to recover quicker than I originally thought since I could get around after the bone marrow transplant and could be more relaxed as I finished off my treatment in the company of my wife".

The "Residential Transplant Apartments" Programme

Many leukaemia patients that need to have a transplant live in the same city where they receive treatment or in areas nearby. However, there are cases in which their place of residence is too far away to be able to get to the hospital quickly in the case of an emergency, or for out-patient treatment, etc. If these patients were to remain in hospital, it would normally mean two things: the occupation of a hospital bed which could be taken up by another patient, and being unable to enjoy the comfort of being in a private and more comfortable environment.

The José Carreras Foundation participates in the Residential Transplant Programme with the Hospital Clínico in Barcelona and has an apartment available in close proximity to the medical centre. The Hospital Clínico project is the only one of its kind in Spain and has been in operation since 2003. As part of this system, patients who live in the city are able to return to their house the day after their transplant and will receive check-ups by a nurse once or twice a day. At present, patients who live more than one hour by car from the Hospital Clínico at peak time are excluded from this service. Patients who are unable to make use of this type of transplant because they live far away from the hospital can make use of the Residential Transplants Programme thanks to the apartment provided by the Foundation.

José María was the first patient to participate in this new programme. Like him, patients can be in a more intimate space and in the continual presence of their family, with all the comforts they would normally expect in a home. Additionally, in the event of an emergency, the patient benefits from being a short distance from the hospital, as well as from the constant attention of a team of nurses.